ThamesTVWe tend not to marvel at email anymore. In Internet years, it’s like an ailing relative who once used to be regale you with interesting tidbits about the Blitz.
Today, we still communicate with it but only because sometimes we have to. It’s the formal, done thing.
In 1984, however, email was all the rage. One of its earliest platforms, Micronet, thankfully released a now-hilarious instructional video explaining this novel concept, which seems to be going over the head of the fella who’s doing all the teaching.
‘It asks with a tone and then I just flick a switch on the modem and replace the receiver,’ the man says, putting the phone down. That’s right, putting the phone down.
I mean, look, we technically still use our phones to email people, but apparently in 1984 you had to pick up a phone in order to be given carte blanche to message someone electronically.
Not only that, but a modem, whatever the hell a modem is.
At the end of the day, this is basically a video of someone picking up a telephone and then looking at Teletext. It makes no sense but ultimately led to the wonders of modern email. So for that, I am grateful.
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